AN: Hello, everyone, I'm terribly sorry this update was so long in the coming...(sighs)...it's hard out here for an AP student. Anyways, thanks so much for being patient, and hopefully this chapter was worth the wait.
Disclaimer: The owner of Harry Potter puts her story updates on shelves in bookstores all across the world. Mine are on It doesn't take a genius to figure this one out, kids...
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Chapter 3: Sorrow
"Fuck!" Harry Potter's voice rang through the halls of Number 12, Grimmauld Place.
"Ass!" it came again, a short while later. Alerted by this unusual display of profanity, Tonks and Hermione rushed up the stairs and burst into the master bedroom. Inside, they were greeted with the view of an extremely disheveled-looking Harry fuming, head down, on his bed, tattered bottle-green robes hanging around his shoulders.
"My dress robes no longer fit," he stated simply, looking up and seeing the startled looks on the faces of the two women.
Hermione rolled her eyes at him, "Harry, would you quit fooling around? We have to go!"
It was true. Sirius' Will Reading was due to begin in less than an hour, and Harry was only just getting ready. Frustrated by the air of helplessness her best friend was putting on, Hermione repaired and enlarged Harry's robe, then sent him a venomous look that plainly said, "Get dressed…NOW!"
"Alright, sheesh, Hermione. I'll get dressed. I don't see what the hurry is, though, we can take a Portkey and be there in half a second," Harry grumbled as he shooed the pair out of his room. In truth, the Wizarding World's speed and ease of transportation was not the real reason for Harry's slow preparations.
In truth, he was dreading returning to Gringotts and having to confront the reality of Sirius' death again, and this time in front of so many witnesses. He was afraid of Dumbledore, and the lengths to which the aged Headmaster might go to force him back to the "safety" of 4 Privet Drive. However, he was most afraid of what he might learn about those people in attendance.
Harry had been rather comfortable for the whole of his life, by taking people at face value. The Dursleys hit him, hence, the Dursleys were bad. His classmates from school teased him; they were bad also. Ron and Hermione were his best friends; they were good. Dumbledore was grandfatherly and protective; he also was good. The world had been much easier to sort out.
But after the incident in Diagon Alley, his view on Dumbledore had been shattered. He had known previously that the Headmaster could be a bit controlling, perhaps more so than he had a right to, but Harry would never think that Dumbledore would resort to violence to make Harry do something. And if Harry had been wrong about Dumbledore, what else had he been wrong about? Hermione? Ron? Voldemort, even? If everything he believed was wrong, Harry was fairly sure he didn't want to know it.
But I have to know, thought Harry bitterly as he pulled on his robes. If he was going to survive, Harry knew that knowing who he could and could not trust was an absolute essential. He had to go to the reading.
What if someone wants me to think they're trustworthy, though, thought Harry, they'll still probably act normally around me. A dilemma. How could he be there without them knowing it?
Harry pondered this topic all the way to Diagon Alley (Hermione, having never ridden the Knight Bus, insisted on taking it, resulting in a thoroughly unnecessary 20 minute detour as it dropped off other passengers). Finally, outside of the Leaky Cauldron, it struck him.
"Tonks," he said, turning to the young Auror. "Disillusion me."
"Professional wrestling is faked," Tonks replied. "George W. Bush stole the American elections. Your face won't freeze like that if you keep it that way too…" but Harry cut her off.
"No, damn it, cast a Disillusionment Charm on me!"
"Oh," said Tonks, looking rather abashed, and then she rapped Harry's head with her wand. Harry felt the familiar yet still uncomfortable sensation of a cracked egg running down his scalp and knew he had disappeared.
"OK, Tonks, Hermione, listen closely. I was grief-stricken over Sirius' death and decided not to come. Got it?"
His female housemates looked a touch confused, but agreed nonetheless. Tonks held open the door to the Leaky Cauldron, and allowed Harry to pass through. For the rest of the walk through Diagon Alley, Harry walked between the girls, figuring this to be the best way to avoid running into anyone and causing a panic. Finally, after three very close calls, they made it to Gringotts running a minute or two late.
The trio began looking around wildly, desperate to find the room where the reading would be held, and thankfully, there was a goblin waiting in the lobby for this very purpose.
"Ms. Granger and Ms. Tonks, I presume," said the goblin. It wasn't a question. "Good, now we can start the reading, if you will follow me." The goblin beckoned imperiously and began leading the three through the maze that was Gringotts bank. Finally, he stopped outside a tall, oak door bearing the legend "Reading Room" on a brass (or was it gold?) plaque at eye height.
The goblin rapped the door with his knuckles and it opened outward, nearly smashing Harry in the face. "Here you are Ms. Granger and Ms. Tonks, I wish you a good day." The goblin started to leave, but stopped and muttered, "And as for you, Lord Black-Potter, that is a most impressive Disillusionment Charm." Then the goblin strolled away as though nothing had happened, leaving the three to enter unassisted.
The Reading Room was a squat rectangular room, perhaps 100 feet long and 40 feet deep from the entrance. The walls and floors were all of Gringotts' signature white marble. At the end of the room directly opposite the foor was a long, highly polished, oak table, raised up slightly from the floor by a small, marble stage. The rest of the room was taken up by short, oaken stands, three or four rows high, and divided in the middle by an appropriately thick aisle. Torches hanging all along the walls gave the room a low, somber lighting.
As Tonks and Hermione were the last benefactors of the Will to arrive, the room was already relatively crowded. On the left sat a good number of the Order of the Phoenix, including all the Weasley family, Remus, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mad-Eye Moody, Snape, and, unsurprisingly, Professor Dumbledore.
This must be a public reading, thought Harry, knowing that the last four were not named in the Will.
Harry's thoughts on the matter were confirmed when he saw who was sitting on the right. There sat three people Harry knew Sirius would never include, even had he not seen the Will before: Draco and Narcissa Malfoy and Blaise Zabini. The two Malfoys were sitting as far away from the Order members as possible, and occasionally shot murderous looks towards the group, and Dumbledore in particular. Blaise was sitting with Draco and looking entirely uninterested in all his occasional attempts at making conversation with her. She was staring intently at the door Harry, Tonks, and Hermione had just come through, as though waiting desperately for something.
Behind the table sat the five goblins who had been present at Harry's reading of the Will. Grabtooth sat in a throne-like chair at the center of the table, and upon seeing Tonks' and Hermione's entrance, he banged his gavel.
"Excellent," said the goblin, as he smoothed his expensive suit. "Now that all named parties in this Will are present, we can proceed with the reading."
Grabtooth adjusted his monocle and picked up the paper before him and opened his mouth as though to begin reading, but found himself cut off by Fred.
"Excuse me sir, but what about Harry Potter? Isn't he named? Don't we need to wait for him?"
Tonks spoke up at this, "Harry sends his regrets that he will be unable to attend, but he finds that it is too soon after Sirius' departure for him to face the divvying up of Sirius' assets. Harry sends his best regards to you all." Tonks gave the crowd a curt nod and sat down.
Grabtooth looked around to see if there were any more questions, and then began the reading of the will. As the goblin did so, Harry snuck off to a corner in the front of the room where he could study everyone's faces.
The first benefactor was Remus. When he heard his named called, the werewolf let a single tear trickle down his face, and was visibly biting his lip to stop a quivering that could be seen despite his efforts. His shaky composure died when he heard Sirius' condition on receiving the inheritance, and he let out a flood of tears at the last sentence, "Now go and have fun."
"I will, Padfoot," vowed Remus, his voice barely above a whisper, and a few years seemed to instantly melt off Remus' face.
Tonks was genuinely surprised when she learned the figure Sirius had left her. Harry had not told either of his housemates what they had inherited, or even his own figure, and Tonks, coming from a middle-class mixed blood household, was absolutely floored. She kept repeating, quietly, "Thank you, Sirius. Thank you, Sirius," like a mantra.
If Tonks was blown away, it was nothing compared to the reaction of the Weasley family upon hearing Arthur's portion. Charlie, Bill, and the twins sat, dumb-struck, jaws agape, completely incapable of moving. Ginny burst into tears and wailed something about not wanting the money, she wanted Sirius. Molly fainted dead away, and Arthur just looked at his feet. Ron, meanwhile, was sitting with his hand at his mouth, apparently trying and failing to hold in a smile.
Ron's smile grew broader as he heard Hermione's share. Hermione, meanwhile, merely nodded, stony-faced but downcast, and Harry heard her take a deep breath through her nose. His face fell like a stone, however, upon hearing his own share. "500,000 Galleons!" Harry saw him mouth. An angry flash passed through the redhead's eyes and he glared murderously at Hermione. Suddenly, though, the eyes softened, and a calculating gleam replaced the fire.
Severus Snape had another interesting face to watch. He was rolling his eyes with each personal message, but each time a Galleon amount would be delegated, he winced, not as though from annoyance that Gryffindors were being given so much cash, but it was as though he saw each delegation as a personal affront. What is this, thought Harry, He can't possibly have been expecting anything.
At the end of Reading, the Malfoy scion jumped to his feet almost before the goblin had finished the last sentence and yelled, "I contest this Will! The Black estate cannot go to Potter, he is not of Black blood!"
Grabtooth gave the blonde a withering stare. "Were you not paying attention, Master Malfoy? The money was left to Harry James Black-Potter. Lord Black-Potter was adopted by the late Lord Black prior to his death, making him completely eligible for this inheritance. Does anyone else have any idiotic complaints," the goblin finished snidely.
As it was, there were no more idiotic complaints, and the group began to file out. The Malfoys and Blaise left first, the first two plainly dealing with a great amount of anger. Blaise looked highly disappointed about something, though for the life of him, Harry couldn't fathom what that was about, either. I don't even know her, he thought, how could she be expecting something from Sirius?
Following them out were Dumbledore and the non-beneficiary Order members Shacklebolt, Moody, and Snape swept out, sticking close behind the Slytherins in case they started anything in their anger. Dumbledore wore the same expression Blaise had, but it seemed that more cogs were turning in his head than in the blonde's.
Tonks, Hermione, and the Weasleys were the last to leave the Reading Room, though Ron hung back slightly. The youngest Weasley male took hold of Hermione's upper arm as she walked through the door and led her off to the side; Harry moved to follow his best friends, but Grabtooth's voice held him back.
"Lord Black-Potter," said the goblin, just loud enough for Harry to hear but still soft enough that it did not carry in the acoustically tuned hall. "A message has arrived for you from the front desk." He motioned at a heavy envelope of ivory paper and subtly held it up for the young Lord's taking.
Harry walked back to the table and accepted the proffered envelope. Breaking the golden seal, Harry read the note inside.
Dear Harry,
Ah, how you continue to evade me! I was hoping that you would be present today at your Godfather's Will Reading, because I have a matter of great import to discuss with you. It would not do to relay information of this nature in a note, nor would you likely believe this information without first-hand proof. Because of this, I ask that you meet me in The Leaky Cauldron on your birthday. I believe you are to be in Diagon Alley that day anyway for your parents' Will Reading, so I hope this will not inconvenience you too much. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
Sincerely,
Blaise Zabini
Harry handed the letter back to Grabtooth. "Any idea what this is about," he asked.
"None, milord," said Grabtooth, "Although I would advise you to attend the meeting, Ms. Zabini has been most persistent in trying to talk to you for some time now. If my memory serves me, she seemed quite keen to talk to you following the trial as well."
"True," nodded Harry, a pensive look on his face. It cleared after a moment, and Harry extended his hand to the goblin. "Thank you for all your help, Grabtooth. I hope one day I'll be able to reciprocate."
Grabtooth gave an affirming nod as he shook Harry's hand, and then led the goblins out a back door. Harry exited through the main door, nearly running into Ron and Hermione, who were arguing in the hallway.
"Oh, come on, Hermione!" said Ron, incredulous. "Why not?"
"Ron, for the last time, I'm not staying at the Burrow this summer! There's a lot of work to be done…"
"Work? Hermione, there's no summer homework this year! Last year was O.W.L.s, remember?"
"I didn't mean school work, Ron. Harry needs to be training for the war, and I for one plan on helping him all I can! Besides that, how could you even think I'd want to come to your home after the things you said about me."
"'Mione, I told you I'm sorry about that. Please, give me another chance."
"Ronald Weasley, don't you dare try to use puppy-dog eyes on me, you're much too old for that to work!"
With that, Hermione whirled around and stomped off in the direction the rest of the group had gone.
Ron was fuming, and muttered angrily, "Won't go out with me, huh, well I'll show her!" He surreptitiously drew his wand and, after a glance each way down the hall, leveled it at Hermione. Ron opened his mouth to cast a spell, but before he could form the first syllable, a wand tip was poking his throat.
"Drop the wand, Ron," Harry growled, and his body shook with vindictive pleasure at having the boy powerless before him.
"H-Harry?" Ron stammered as he dropped the wand and looked wildly around for his assailant. "W-where are you?"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Disillusionment Charm, idiot. Now, care to tell me which spell you were about to cast on Hermione?"
"W-what are you talking about, Harry? I wouldn't curse Hermione, she's my b-best friend!" Ron attempted a sheepishly innocent grin. Attempted was the key word.
In response, Harry merely poked the wand harder into Ron's neck, making him gasp and sputter. Still getting no response, Harry stared into Ron's eyes and focused all his thoughts on one word: Legilimens.
Ron had no magical defenses around his mind, and Harry broke in easily. Once inside his former best mate's head, Harry thought, Ron, I know you can hear this. I am inside your memories and I will find out which spell you were going to use on Hermione. If you tell me now and spare me the trouble of looking, however, you won't have a killer headache when I'm though. The choice is yours.
Alright, came Ron's grumbled reply, it was going to be Amor Infinitus.
Harry stumbled back in shock at the admission. Amor Infinitus was a spell first invented by Greek patricians to bind their concubines, and had since been used for a wide variety of purposes, from jealous husbands bent on keeping their wives faithful and obedient, to Dark Lords wishing to ensure a completely loyal group of followers. Its use had been criminalized in 1755 with the Unforgivable Curses Declaration, which placed it on a level just below that of the Unforgivables. That Ron had even heard of the spell, let alone nearly used it, was so mind-bending that it was all Harry could do to remain in the redhead's mind.
Harry's disbelief did not last long, however, as it quickly gave way to boiling anger. He forcefully pulled out of Ron's mind and hissed dangerously in the redhead's ear, "You're coming with me!"
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Ron gave no resistance as Harry frog-marched him out of Diagon Alley. He made no motion to escape as Harry pushed him onto the Knight Bus and tipped Stan an extra four Galleons to visit Grimmauld Place first. Not even a single wild look entered his eye as Harry pulled him towards the edge of his London property.
But the moment Ron felt the tingle of the raised wards as Harry threw him across the threshold of the Black Estate, he started to panic. Please tell me that wasn't a Magic Cloaking Ward, Ron mentally begged, but he dared not ask aloud, for fear of angering Harry further.
Instead, Ron merely stared up into Harry's striking green eyes as his former best friend stood over him and raised his wand.
"You wished to harm my friend, Ron," said Harry with a calm that made vampires seem frisky. "I will no longer allow people to harm my friends."
Harry directed his wand at Ron's face, and Ron could see a small pinprick of red light starting to grow on the tip. Abruptly, the light went out, and Harry pulled his wand back toward his body.
Ron cracked a grin and began to sit up. "Good joke, Harry, I knew you wouldn't actually…" but then Ron's whole body went rigid and he fell back to the floor.
"I forgot," said Harry, still with the calm that should come only with death, "Mrs. Black hates loud noise." He jabbed his wand at Ron and cried, "Silencio!"
Oh no.
"I'm sorry, Ron," said Harry, and a single tear dropped from his eye onto Ron's cheek. Ron closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. It came a second later.
"Crucio!"
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AN: There you have it! Please review, you honestly have no idea how happy it makes me when I see those in my email. Just to clarify a few things in case anyone was wondering:
-For those of you who are already planning on telling me in your review that Tonks' comment about George W. Bush is anachronistic, you would be correct if I were following the widely accepted fanon timeline that has Harry born in 1980 and starting school in 1992. The way I see it, J.K. Rowling has never established in her novels when precisely the action occurs and thus I feel free to reference the man. If I am wrong however, and someone would like to prove to me, using canon, that the fanon timeline is correct, I will of course duly note it, apologize for any anachronisms, and give you a shoutout on top of the next chapter.
-If anyone is having trouble picturing the Reading Room in their mind's eye, do a Google Image search for the main room of Princeton's Nassau Hall, and picture it done in marble rather than wood.
Again, thanks to those of you who have read the story, more thanks to those who have reviewed it, there are 137 of you at the time of this update and I love each of you to death, and as always, there is a complete discussion thread at Hopefully my next update won't take as long, school is starting on Wednesday, so I'm anticipating a light homework load for the next couple weeks. Until next time...
